A Surprise From England
by LucyRM
Summary: A Tony, Michelle & Jack story based a few years after Season 4 where we see complications arising in a new investigation, and Season 5 not occuring at all.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **_The characters are from the wonderful creators of "24" and Fox and are not my own; other references to real things, such as names of cars etc, also do not belong to me, but to the relevant people and companies. Other characters that I mention are fictitious and are not based on anyone to my knowledge. _

_The story is set a good few years after Season 4 of "24", and Season 5 will not occur in my story. _

**Evening…**

The dusky sky made the Jeep Cherokee's silver paintwork look dull and inexpensive. Ever since he bought it last month, Tony had kept the outside polished. He showed off his car with pride. He was sat in the passenger seat and looked into the side mirror and gazed at the body shape as his wife swerved into the car park of CTU. She found a space and screeched the cars breaks to a standstill; Tony winced when he heard the sound.

Smiling, Michelle turned to Tony and began to lean towards him to kiss him. She was to leave him there as he started his shift as Director of CTU Los Angeles; she was to then continue driving another thirty minutes to the Divisional Headquarters where she ranked a higher role in the workplace. Just as she placed a smooth kiss on his left cheek, her mobile phone rang.

"Hi Michelle, it's Bill," her boss. "I want you over at CTU tonight."

"I've just arrived with Tony. Why?"

"Well there's a representative from London visiting tonight. I want you, and only you to speak to her tonight. Don't mention this to anyone, Michelle!"

She snapped open her seatbelt, "I'm working from here tonight."

He smiled back at her, though deep inside he felt uncomfortable with the situation. He had always loved working alongside his wife when they had a moderately equal amount of authority until he had to make a close call several years ago where he put the welfare and safety of his wife above a positive outcome for an investigation. His secondary problem was that he knew that there must be some reason why the big bosses wanted her over here. Usually it meant that there was suddenly a diminished amount of trust between the two offices.

In the Red and Black restaurant, Jack sat down at his table. He was a little early for his first date in a while, but his nerves were jumping and his blood racing. He needed to calm down, drink some water, and above all, make sure he looked at least semi-decent. He looked at his reflection in the back of the silver soup spoon, ran fingers through gelled hair and straightened his tie. He lifted the menu to try and decide what he might want to eat, though, perusing it was not as easy as he first thought. He was tired, and his eyes were not focussing easily on the black print, after a twelve-hour shift of car chases, fights and paperwork.

While Tony was busy creating a network access for Michelle in the ITS room, she sat down at a chair in the Conference Suite and waited for the rep. to join her. Escorted by two security guards, the rep. entered the room and introduced herself as Lucy Cole. Michelle felt she might have seen this face before, maybe in a photograph; but she couldn't be certain.

Lucy explained she had just arrived in L.A. from London as the main culprits in a case she had been investigating had some connections in Los Angeles, and she had intelligence to believe that the main actions of the case had moved here.

"I believe my brother is in danger." Lucy said. "I need to warn him."

"Who is your brother?"

Lucy did not answer the question directly, "I thought I would be speaking to him tonight instead of… instead of you!"

"So your brother works here? We don't have any agents going by the name of Cole. Tell me who he is and I can let him know you are here!"

Lucy's head turned to look out the glass window to see only women sat at desks, then, a man walked out of a dark room and walked toward his desk. "Don't worry, he is here."

Michelle looked down at the notes she had been taking, then back up at Lucy. She then followed her gaze to view what Lucy was looking at. It was Tony.

"You're not really Lucy Cole."

Lucy shook her head. "Lucy Almeida."

Michelle sat back in her chair and sighed.

Jack looked at his watch. His date was late. He lifted a hand and a waiter appeared. He checked the time, though his watch was right and hadn't speeded up.

"It is usual for a lady to be a little late, especially at a high quality restaurant like this. Can I get you anything while you wait, Sir?"

Jack grunted. "Well, I'd like a glass of water, thanks." His throat was dry, but his voice was naturally husky.

Somewhere in an outer suburb of Los Angeles a small child pranced around her babysitter, refusing to go to bed until she talked to her mother. The babysitter was only a teenager herself and was looking after a friend-of-the-family's child while the parents worked to raise money before going to college next year. She hoped to be studying for a Film Studies degree. The babysitter's family did not approve of her new boyfriend, Neil, as he was several years older than her and resembled more of a bad-boy appearance that was not welcome in this neighbourhood. The girl assumed that the parents of the child she was babysitting for would not appreciate him being near their precious daughter. Once the parents had left the house, she usually called Neil to let him know it was safe for him to join her. Tonight, she had not yet found her mobile phone to call him, she had revision to do for her final exam tomorrow. The girl needed all the marks she could get into her first choice university.

The babysitter was in the middle of pleading with the child, Luisa, to go to bed, when she heard a voice behind her.

"Give in to her once in a while!" The babysitter turned around to see Neil's sly smile.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: **_Please see my notes at the start of Chapter 1 - I do not own the "24" characters or any other commercial or company mentioned in my story. _

_Thanks for the reviews, and I hope that you keep reading...

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**A Little Later…** _

Michelle called through to Tony's phone.

"I have Luisa on the other line," Tony said. "She'll only talk to her mother."

"Put her through, and meet me in your office in ten minutes." She heard a click. "Luisa, it's your mum."

"Mummy! There's a man here." Michelle looked through the glass window to see Tony who was still listening in on the call. He raised an eyebrow.

"He is probably just the babysitters boyfriend. Don't worry, darling. We'll see you in the morning." Michelle put the phone down. "Does Tony know you're still alive?"

"No. Last he heard was that I died on a mission in London several years ago."

After studying in England, she was hand selected to join a highly secretive government organisation. A year into the job, Lucy was undercover with a team working alongside other military organisations. Things turned nasty and after a couple of weeks, managers had not heard anything from a few agents, including Lucy. They declared these agents dead. A year or so had passed when these few were released from a bunker in the mountains. Families had mourned their loss, and so these few were given new identities, though kept on as agents, continuing the work they had begun. Eventually the investigation became dormant as there were no new leads on the men they were following. During the last month, the case was reopened when some new leads came to Lucy's attention. She followed them to Los Angeles from London, and knew that it was time to tell her family the truth.

"I have some news that may be hard for you to hear." Michelle sat down on the cream leather settee next to Tony. She took his hand within hers, and spoke slowly. "Your sister, Lucy. She is not dead. She is sat downstairs in the Conference Suite…" As soon as she begun to speak, she remembered the beginning of the conversation with Lucy. _My brother may be in danger._ Michelle knew whom she had to call.

His date had been sat in her seat for fifteen minutes. They had just ordered champagne when his phone rang.

"It's Michelle. I need you to go over to my house straight away. Luisa might be in danger. Take her somewhere safe please Jack. I wouldn't have called you if I could have asked someone else, I know that tonight is important for you, but…"

"Don't worry. I'll be straight over." He ended the call and spoke to his dinner partner, "I'm really sorry. I have to leave now." Jack stood up and pressed his lips on her cheek and squeezed her shoulder

Meanwhile, Michelle spied through the window of Tony's office to the floor below. Tony had marched over to the Conference Room. She caught the grumpy look on his face as he opened the heavy glass door, walked through and carefully closed it behind him. He stood just the other side of it with folded arms and his head to one side. Lucy stood up and casually walked towards him and wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders. Tony maintained his position for a moment, then pushed her away from him. Michelle could tell he had said something to her, as all of a sudden there was an eruption of body language, arms moving all over the place, and explosions of emotions shown on her face. Then, all of a sudden everything seemed calm. Michelle left the office and walked down the grey concrete stairs, across to the conference room and pulled open the door to see that Tony had pinned his sister to the opposite wall.

"What the Hell did you think you were doing?" His voice boomed. "Do you realise that because of your sloppy investigations, not only are you dead, but my daughter might be dead!"

Michelle ran across and pulled Tony away from Lucy. She felt his muscles were so tensely taught. She reassured him that Jack was on his way to bring Luisa in.

"He'll call us soon!"

Jack pulled up to the house in his ex-CTU car. Before he got out, he took a moment to think about his plan for he had no idea if the people inside were hostile or simply the Almeida's babysitters. He saw one tall male figure through the window. He appeared to be talking on the phone, and pacing. Jack took off his tie and put it in the glove box. As a reaction, he reached for his gun, but then thought better of it. He didn't want Tony and Michelle's five year old exposed to guns, especially when there may be no reason to use one.

He knocked on the door. No answer. He pulled his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door. As he entered the hallway, Neil leapt out from behind the wall.

"What do you want? You know you shouldn't be here! Now, tell me what do you want?" Neil yelled.

"I'm Tony's friend, just came to borrow a tie. I'm going out on a date and I need to impress this girl, you know what I mean?" He smirked at the cover story he told, he needed this guy to believe him, so he could gain access upstairs, and of course he looked the part.

"Well just get it and leave!" The man watched as Jack trotted up the stairs and made a turn into one of the bedrooms, then he went back to his phone conversation in the living room.

Upstairs, Jack found a random tie and wrapped it around the knuckles of his right hand. He picked his mobile out of his trouser pocket and dialled a CTU number.

In a whisper, "I have seen one male, mid-twenties here; not seen the babysitter yet. Wait a minute."

Michelle waited with the CTU phone pressed to her ear as Jack, on the other end of the call, quietly made his way to Luisa's bedroom. "Shh!!! Don't say anything and come with me. I'll take you to Mummy." He put the phone to his ear and spoke to Michelle again, "I have Luisa now, keep the call open." He padded down the stairs hoping the man in the living room would not hear his steps. Jack had just managed to open the front door when he put Luisa down, out of his arms on the doorstep. "Run to the other side of my car!" He instructed her.

Neil came out of the living room and looked at Jack. "Did you get the tie?"

"Yeah, I got it. This girl had better appreciate the trouble I've gone to for her!" Jack snorted and closed the door behind him.

Jack stuffed the little girl into the car and sped away.

"Michelle I'm on my way to CTU. Luisa is with me." He put the mobile into a central cradle so he could use the speaker function. "She can hear you too."

"Thanks Jack. Darling are you there?"

"Mummy!"

"Please be good for Uncle Jack and do everything he tells you. I'll see you very soon! Jack, is everything alright there?"

"Yeah," he glanced into his rear-view mirror. "Michelle I'm being trailed, the guy must have realised I have Luisa, can you pick this up on Satellite?"

A few taps on the keyboard and then she asked what his location was. He explained he was just a few blocks north of her house, he was in the large black Ford and the car in pursuit of him was an old green car.

"Okay, Jack. I can locate you easier if you activate your GPS signal in your car. You have to drive along the highway a little to get back here." Michelle knew that, even at this time of night, the highway would be quite busy still.

Jack reached down and activated the GPS chip beneath the steering column. He knew there was a good reason for buying this car from CTU when they got rid of these older models.

"Your location is on the screen, and I can track the car behind you using Sat images." She hung up the phone.

On her screen, she could see a grid-like outline drawing of the area. Jack's car automatically appeared as a bright blue light and she labelled the other car as a bright red light. She watched as the two lights sped along the street, there was about half a mile between the two vehicles. Jack swerved his car around a corner to come near to the intersection that joins this neighbourhood and the highway, Neil followed. On his approach, Jack turned his head and glanced at Luisa. She must have been staring at him for a long time, and, for a five year old, she had a very inquisitive look on her face, though she looked painfully tired. A thought passed through Jack's mind that the little girl had no idea what was going on, she had so far been shielded from such erratic driving. He just knew that he had to get her back to CTU as soon as possible.

Jack made the transition from the intersection onto the highway in a swift motion, and the car's fast transition of speed was smooth. He noticed that the green car had also joined the highway, but was a few cars behind him. He turned his head once again; the small girl had flopped into the corner of the chair. Jack's heart lurched and a sick feeling ran though his stomach. This was Tony and Michelle's little girl, their pride and joy. He shook her hand to see if she might wake up. No. She was not asleep; she had passed out of consciousness. Jack noticed he was approaching his exit towards CTU and left the highway. Once he was on the main road, he once again saw the green car on his tail. Another thirty seconds and he was turning into the CTU car park. The green car did not follow him in, but carried on driving and cut his engine about 100 yards further down the road.

Inside the doorway, Tony and Michelle were waiting to greet him. Jack had the girl flopped in his arms and laid her in Tony's outstretched arms.

"I think she is unconscious, Tony. You need to take her to the medical wing, immediately."

Tony ran with the girl to the medical wing. Michelle's first question was if her daughter had seen any guns. Jack replied with a firm no, although he could not be sure of what she had witnessed before he got to the house. They looked back at the computer screen that Chloe O'Brian had been monitoring. The red light had stopped moving and was now flashing slowly.

"The driver has gotten out of the vehicle and is now walking along the footpath towards CTU."

Neil was following his instructions. The instructions given to him earlier that day over the phone. He was to keep the girl under constant surveillance until his contact called him. He needed to get the child back and out of CTU. It occurred to him the drug he had given her earlier to keep her from bouncing about too much would be beginning to kick-in. A perfect plan, he hoped. She would be in a bed by the time he got there so all he had to do was to sneak in and take her out of the bed.

At her computer terminal, Michelle watched the red dot flash slowly towards the building she was in. Neil did not attempt to enter by any of the main doors, but by squeezing himself through the air conditioning shaft. He wriggled along the shiny silver pipe until he fell out into a ventilation plant room.

A guard inside the room passed him the paper plans to CTU and pointed to where the girl was now lying in the medical centre. Neil put on a spare janitor uniform and left the room. He walked through the main body of CTU, and passed Michelle, who did not look at him, and on towards the medical centre.

_It's like stealing candy from a baby_, he thought as he walked through one of the doors. He saw the girl lying in the bed, and some man, Tony, asleep in a chair next to the bed. Neil placed his hands on the drip tube that was feeding into Luisa's arm. Just as he began to twist it out of her hand, Tony sat bolt upright and pointed a gun at Neil. Jack had now entered the room and was in the throes of pulling Neil's arms into a restraint position behind his back and cuffed his hands.

"You're in custody now!" Jack whispered in his ear.

"I'm just a janitor." Neil whinnied.

"Yeah, right. A Janitor who happens to be at my friends house one minute, then at my workplace the next." Jack yanked him out of the room and towards the holding rooms. "You can save all your excuses for someone who cares."

Michelle looked at her child, then at Tony.

"The doctor thinks its some sort of sleeping tablet. She will be okay once she wakes up, just a little dehydrated, hence the tubes…" He waved his hand at the tubes going into her hand.

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A silver plane charged through the sky high above mainland America, beginning to make its descent. One of its passengers dialled a number on his mobile phone.

"Hello?" A voice answered.

"I'll be with you in about an hour. I'm on a plane to Los Angeles!" The phone switched off.

Lucy snapped closed her mobile phone. She walked across the office to the desk where Tony was sitting. He was wearing headphones and concentrating on watching a live video-feed from the interrogation room on his monitor. After a few minutes, he still had not noticed Lucy standing at his shoulder, or if he had, he was definitely ignoring her. She made up her mind to make him aware of his presence, by touching his shoulder. He jumped. He did not know she was there after all. He removed one of his headphones to listen.

"There is a new problem."


	3. Chapter 3

_Thank you ever so much for your comments and reviews of my story! Please continue to read, review and enjoy the next chapter. _

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**Night…**

Tony sighed. Lucy had divulged the new problem to Tony. He sighed again, pulled his headphones off and slammed them onto the desk in front of him.

"Come with me." Lucy followed him to see Michelle in her office. When he got there, he said flatly, "explain it all to her."

"My partner has just called me. He is on a plane here to join me."

"Your partner? Has he been working on the same crisis too?"

"No Michelle," Tony told her, "not her 'working' partner. It's her 'lover'!" He walked out the office. Michelle sat back in her chair.

"I'm a little confused. Why do I need to know if he is arriving or not?"

"Because he is arriving in just less than an hour. He doesn't know that I work for the government. He thinks that I'm a Spanish teacher. My cover could be blown…"

All of a sudden Chloe O'Brian walked into the office. "Sorry I hope I'm not disturbing something important." Her voice was awkward.

"What can I do for you?" Michelle enquired.

"It's this flight from London. National Security have looked at the names of passengers on the flight and two of them have been flagged." She pushed a piece of paper onto Michelle's desk so she could study it.

"This plane is due to arrive at eleven-thirty. This must be the same flight that your friend is on. What is his name?"

"Alex Cole."

Michelle gasped.

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Enrique, the security guard at CTU had received a phone call about fifteen minutes ago. Now, he knew, was the time to act on it. He made certain that he had a fully loaded weapon in his holster, a pair of handcuffs. He straightened his guard's cap on his head and left his office. Minutes later he arrived at the Medical Centre, pushed open the door.

"Hey, Pete. It's time you go home and spend some time with that nice wife of yours. I'll take over from here." Enrique was Head of Security at CTU. He was now in charge of making sure the child in the bed was protected. He sat down in a chair next to the bed for a few minutes and studied the wires and tubes going in and out of the small body. Then, one by one he pulled them all out. He picked up the limp body and carried her out of the building. From the Medical Centre the corridors led straight to the external doors without having to pass through the main office. He put her on the seat next to him in the car and drove away.

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Jack had been interrogating Neil in one of the holding rooms for the past thirty minutes. Jack judged that he could obtain more information if he used a soft approach on this man. He sat in a chair about 4 feet in front of Neil in the blue-grey concrete room. Neil gave very little information about the past few hours, about why he was at the Almeida's house. He did begin by saying that he was there to baby-sit and he followed Jack to CTU in order to prevent Jack from kidnapping the girl. Then he changed his mind about this, and claimed he was working for someone. He didn't know who. He had a name for Jack, though. The man who gave him the instructions was called Enrique.

Jack left the holding room to speak to Michelle, to see if there were any further developments. They were gathered around Chloe's desk. There was an image on the monitor which was a live feed from the airplane now arriving at Los Angeles airport.

"Who is this?" Jack questioned.

"This man sat here has been identified as a suspect. We believe that Tony's sister's partner is also on the plane. She didn't know he would be arriving until about half an hour ago. We have sent Lucy in a car with some security guards to the airport to meet the plane. The other man will be arrested separately on arrival." Michelle told him.

"Why not pick them both up together?" Jack was confused.

"This is where it all gets confusing." Michelle replied. "Lucy's husband doesn't know who she works for. To keep her cover we need to make it appear that we have arrested her too. Then we will bring them back here for questioning."

"Why has she gone then, when people from our office could go instead?"

"We needed her to identify the man as part of the group that she and her office have been following."

Jack turned the monitor around to have a closer look at the grainy images from the airplane camera. "Do we have a name for this man and a seating plan yet?"

Michelle shook her head. Jack looked out the window of her office, Michelle walked across the office and stood next to him. They both gazed down at the agents sat at desks. They were all either tapping at their keyboards or making phone calls. Jack looked back at Michelle. Her long brown wavy hair was tied back in a half pony tail with a short piece of hair that could not reach the hair clip falling down the side of her face. Her skin was soft and her complexion pale. Jack saw her demeanour appeared confident, and in charge; he supposed that was how she managed to be promoted. Michelle reached up and massaged her temple with her thumbs. Jack thought she looked troubled now so he put his arm around her shoulders. For a moment she settled into his warm hug, then she moved away.

"I'm sorry Michelle. I just thought that you might want some moral support. You've had a tough few hours!"

She smiled back at him. "I'm okay."

"What is Tony doing? He looks like he could use something to keep him occupied." Tony was sat at a desk. The computer in front of him had the keyboard missing, though he had switched it on to appear as though he were working. "Has he seen these images?"

"No. Not yet."

**------------------------------------------**

Michelle pressed the intercom button, "Tony Almeida, can you come up to my office please?" Her voice echoed around the building.

Jack smiled at her, "Make sure Tony is kept in the loop." He left the office when Tony entered through the glass door.

"These images were picked up on the plane. I want you to obtain any background information on this man here." She pointed to the monitor. "The plane will be landing in Los Angeles in just under fifteen minutes."

Tony opened up the imaging software on the computer and used it to open the photo from the plane. Now he was concerned with improving the quality of the image before looking at the faces. With a few clicks of the mouse and a few more taps on the keyboard Tony and Michelle were now looking at a clear image.

"I recognise one of these men. From the conference in Washington last month."

"The Security conference? I thought that was just for agents."

"Yes, it was. There were representatives from a lot of agencies, even those that were posing as foreign citizens abroad." Tony folded his arms. "I sat next to this man for the duration of the conference and spent a lot of my free time with him too. He was called Alex Cole."

Michelle gasped. "Get in contact with your sister. She didn't see the photo before she left for the airport. This whole operation is going to be a disaster if they don't know the full information. Alex Cole is her husband."

**------------------------------------------**

The plane ground to a halt just in front of the airport terminal. CTU agents were disguised as grounds men and airport officials. The plane door opened, and the stairwell was pushed up to the door edge. All of the 129 passengers were allowed to exit the plane. They were divided onto three buses to take them to the airport terminal. Alex and the other man were together on the same bus, which meant it was much easier for the undercover CTU agents to isolate them. The first two buses began to drive towards the terminal, the third bus had to stay stationary whilst another plane passed in front of it. The bus drove on, taking a different route to the other two vehicles. Once the bus had reached an area where lots of black SUVs were parked, it stopped. The door at the front opened and a bulky man dressed in black and brandishing a large gun.

Alex Cole's heart began pounding when he saw this man. He looked out of the windows of the bus, there were men identical to this one surrounding the whole vehicle. Some of the younger passengers began to scream and panic. Alex watched as the man approached him.


	4. Chapter 4

_Thank you for your reviews, please continue to read. I admit the last chapter was a little lame, but hopefully this one is better. If you have any suggestions as to where you think that this story might be going, or any ideas about any of the characters, please leave me your ideas. Thank you. _

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**At the filling station...**

"I'm going to see Luisa. I haven't seen her for a few hours. Perhaps the tranquilliser has worn off by now and she'll be wearing out the guard with all her energy." Tony smiled at Michelle's joke. She patted him on the hand and left the office.

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Alex cautiously followed the CTU agent's instructions. Like all the other passengers, he left his jacket and his bags where he was standing on the bus, and got off. As soon as he stepped off the bus he was separated, along with the other man, from the other passengers. Some CTU agents searched the bags and coats that were left on the bus. Another group of agents were searching the two men.

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Michelle arrived back at the office where Tony was still sat sifting through paperwork. Tony instantly saw that she was distressed.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" He put his arm around her.

"Do you know where they took Luisa after she was in the Medical Unit?"

"Huh? Last I heard she was still there. That was an hour and a half ago. They wouldn't move her without letting us know. I think Enrique was meant to be taking over the shift to guard her." Tony pressed the intercom button, "I need a 20 on Enrique Guttierez. I repeat, I need a 20 on Enrique Guttierez!"

Several voices sounded on the intercom saying they hadn't seen or heard from Enrique in the last few hours.

"Check the security footage, Michelle!"

She nodded and went straight to Tech 1 where it was all stored.

She kept pressing a button until she saw the image. A portly man dressed in a red guards uniform leaving the Medical Unit emergency exit. He had Michelle's daughter at his side. Enrique got into a car. Michelle wrote down the registration number on the license plate and sent the image to Chloe's computer for her to search for the vehicle on local cameras.

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Alex felt uncomfortable. His stomach began to turn as he watched the other man being handcuffed and arrested. Alex felt sure that he would be next. He hung his head, staring at his shoes. He thought he heard his name, then put it down to being inside his tired mind. He heard his name again, only a little louder this time. He looked up and saw Lucy walking towards him. She was surrounded by three more agents.

"Alex, I'm sorry to tell you this, especially after being married to you for the last year."

"Go on. Tell me!" His body and mind were so tired.

"I work for the government, but now I'm with the American Counter Terrorist Unit. I'm sorry, but you have to come with me. I'm not arresting you."

"I'm confused."

"Come on." Lucy pulled his arm. "Everything will be made clear later, but for now, you need to come with me, or I will have to arrest you."

Alex sighed and began moving his feet towards the black SUV.

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Chloe dialled Jack's mobile phone number, "I have found Enrique's car. He is travelling north away from Los Angeles. I have infrared on the car and there are two people in it." She paused, "I am assuming that the second person is Luisa Almeida."

As Jack was leaving the CTU building, Tony was waiting by the helicopter that Jack had requested.

"Look Jack, you're not going. I am!"

"Tony…" Jack wanted to level with him but he was pushed back. This made Jack unhappy.

"It's my daughter who is in jeopardy here, not yours." Tony's voice was sharp and filled with vengeance. "You have been in the same situation with Kim before. You know what it's like. Just let me get on the chopper and you can go back to your date."

"I understand, Tony, that is why I'm going."

A hand touched Tony's shoulder. He turned around to see Michelle. He was a little surprised to see that she had changed from her short black skirt to black trousers and in addition her leather jacket.

"Why don't you go inside, sweetheart? I'm going offsite with Jack now. I need you to run everything from here. Please don't go against me on this; this is what I need you to do!"

"Fine." Though Tony was not happy with this plan.

"Also, you need to update us and the other team with any tactical approaches."

"Fine, I said! I know what to do!" He turned away and went back into the building. Michelle looked at Jack and he shrugged his shoulders.

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Enrique had been driving for almost an hour and a half, breaking the speed limit most of the time too. This meant that he was able to be around 80 miles away from CTU, away from L. A. His breathing had been erratic due to the fact he wanted to get this part of the day done correctly, there was a lot of pressure on him, plus, at the end of the day, it did not help that he was a little overweight. He began to inhale slowly now. He looked at the girl on the seat next to him. She was beginning to wake up now.

"Do you want a drink?" He pushed a half-drunk bottle of water into her hand. For a moment there was silence, then suddenly, there was a high-pitched scream from the little girl's pink face. She had seen the man driving the car was not anyone that she knew or recognised. Enrique had to keep her happy.

"Don't worry, little girl. I'm taking you to see mummy and daddy!" He lied through his teeth; though this came quite easily to him; he had been lying to his girlfriend for the past year.

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The helicopter was still flying north.

"Michelle, type my access code into my PDA."

She opened the software on the palmtop.

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Enrique was approaching a filling station. The girl had just finished drinking the bottled water.

"You must be thirsty!"

She was slumped into her seat and looked straight out of the windscreen.

"Look, I'll get us some more drinks and snacks." He pulled into a service station and got out the car. Luisa watched him get out and walk across the forecourt and into the building; she opened the door, got out and left it wide open. She ran away from the car, across a dust track road and hid behind some trees.

"Jack, Enrique has stopped at a filling station. I'm going to use a thermal image." Michelle tapped a few more buttons. "They have both left the car. One has gone into the woods and the other into the building. I can't tell which is which. How long until we arrive at that location?"

"Another 15 minutes." The pilot replied.

"That's too long." Jack held her hand. "How can this be happening to me? Have I done the right thing by leaving Tony at CTU? Perhaps he was right."

"Don't worry, Michelle. Whatever decisions you have made and will continue to make will be the correct ones. You can't go back on what you have done, you just have to trust your judgement." She looked him in the eyes. "On a personal note, though; you will feel like hell. Your stomach will be uptight and your mind is always wondering if you are doing the right thing. I have been there, several times, with Kim. It's a horrible feeling, but you have to think objectively. Why has Luisa been kidnapped? What has she to do with the investigation?"

Michelle leaned her body closer to Jack and rested her head on his shoulder. He allowed her to do this. He put his hand on her head and began to stroke it. She allowed him to do this. They sat in the helicopter for several minutes like this.

Enrique left the building with a large bag of sweeties, juice and kids magazines. He hoped this would keep the kid entertained for as long as it takes. He opened his car door, saw the other door was open and the kid was gone. He threw the carrier bag into the back of the SUV and walked around the vehicle. He could not see her. He bent down and looked under it. No, she was not there either. He jogged back into the building and demanded that the shop worker look back over the security tapes for the past 10 minutes to see if he could see where the girl went. The boy inside claimed the cameras were dummies and no film was ever in them.

Michelle jumped when her mobile phone pipped loudly in the 'copter. Jumping away from Jack's clutch, she answered, "H-Hello?"

"Michelle, it's Tony."

"Oh, T-Tony!" Her voice shaky.

"Is everything alright, you sound a little…"

She did not wait to hear the rest of the sentence, she pulled the phone away from her ear and drew in a deep breath to calm her nerves and regain her confident demeanour. "Just a minute, I'll put you on speaker phone."

"Tony, it's Jack. I've got mobile Sat coverage and infrared in front of me."

Luisa was crouching behind a tree, peeping around it and through some tall sun-parched grass. She felt something furry rub her leg, perhaps a small animal. Her tiny five-year old body jumped away from the sensation. She fell backwards. She tumbled down a steep mountainside and landed on some dried bushes at the side of a drying creek bed.

Enrique heard a crunch coming from the other side of the road so he jogged straight over to investigate. In the dark, all he could see were the trees and the long grass ahead of him. He pressed his palm on the front of a tree trunk and leant forward. As he did, he thought he saw the girl's body lying way below from where he was standing. He reached in his shirt pocket and pulled out a flashlight and shone the beam down. He was right, the sight below him confirmed his suspicions. He walked back to his car and began to dial a number on his phone.

"Did you just see what I think I saw?" Michelle shouted to the handset. It was hard to be certain what she did see, though, there appeared to have been several red spots indicating life on the infrared overlay of the Sat image. Two of the spots had collided with each other, then they seemed to have separated by only a small distance.

"I'm looking at the satellite image only. It appears that there might be a cliff or a steep slope. What do you think?" The handset, sat between Michelle and Jack, seemed to have asked.

"Tony, I don't have access to all the functions from here, can you adapt it to measure altitude?" Jack yelled.

Tony deftly tapped away on his keyboard and stepped back to watch the images unfold in front of his eyes. His fingers touched his mouth, encasing his heart.

----------------------------

The black and white satellite image was what Tony saw first. Next, the infrared overlay, showing the few red dots. Then appeared some height markers. Next to the red dot by the door of the gas station had a number next to it, 10m. The figure that was next to the red dot that moved around the car, to the building and to the other side of the road and back also read 10m. Another red dot had been behind some trees had a number that changed between 8m and 10m instantly. The red dot that had originally appeared to be next to this red dot was at an altitude of -11m. This red dot was the only one not moving.

"She's in the riverbed!" Tony bellowed into the handset. "She must have run down the slope to escape Enrique. Maybe one of you should get off the chopper nearby the gas station and the rest of you take it down to see if she is injured."

"We're landing now!" The pilot crackled through the headset.

Jack thrust open the door of the helicopter and threw his body out onto the dusty ground. The 'copter took off into the sky, and Jack lost sight of it above the trees. From where he landed, he was about 50 metres away from the gas station. He was covered by some trees, so he ran towards the station.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Author's note: **Like I have said in all previous chapters; I do not own the characters in this story (except for Alex and Enrique) the rest are from the creators of "24". Also the tea and biscuit brands mentioned in this story are not a creation of mine - they are real and very tasty! _

_Thank you for your reviews so far... its gives me the encouragement to write some more. Though I'm sorry you have had to wait so long for this new chapter, this is due to my studies. _

_Please read and review...

* * *

**Combat Jack**_

When Jack reached the corner of the building, he looked around it and saw Enrique sitting in his car. His passenger door was open and he was facing the opposite direction with his mobile pressed to his ear.

Jack crept from the building to the back of the car and crouched on the ground. He exhaled deeply then his head popped up to check Enrique was still facing the same way. He was. He was telling the person at the other end of the line his plan had gone okay so far, as long as they keep CTU believing that Luisa is still alive, the rest would work out perfectly. Jack ducked back down and kept his body low, made no ground noise and crept to the passenger door and got inside. Enrique had no idea what was going on. He was still occupied by making excuses to the person on the other end.

Jack grabbed Enrique's right arm and pulled his hand towards him and took the phone, pressing the red cancel button.

"Jack!" There was no surprise in Enrique's voice. "You have made a big mistake. I'm just on my way home."

"If you're going home, then why did you kidnap Michelle Dessler's daughter?"

Enrique pulled his arm away from Jack. "Can you see that girl here? Look around you, Jack!"

Jack grunted and reinforced his strength on the rogue security guard by re-establishing his grip on Enrique's arm.

"You know that I am just as strong as you. You have just met your match Jack Bauer!"

Jack pulled out his gun and pointed it straight at Enrique's head. The gun was at point-blanc range, if Jack pulled the trigger the shot would kill him instantly. He unlocked the safety lock on the shotgun. Enrique did not look anxious, he also knew that Jack could not murder him. Jack needed him, for information and as a possible ally. Jack pressed the tip of the gun into Enrique's right cheek, paused for a moment before pulling it down to his neck, then to his shoulder. All of a sudden he whisked it to point to Enrique's knee and released the trigger.

Enrique howled as he pressed his hands on the bullet entry wound. The pain was ceaseless.

"Where is the girl?"

"She… she is down there. Dead in the stream."

"Thanks." Jack got out the car. "You had better hope that she is not dead!" He ran to the tree line and saw the girl lying metres below him. He looked for a safe path down to reach her, knowing that the 'copter had taken off to find her, it would never land down there. He ran back to the car and yelled to Enrique, "have you got a rope?"

Enrique pointed to the seat, "under there!"

Jack reached down and pulled out the rope. It looked strong and thick enough to hold Jack's weight, and long enough for Jack to tie one end of the rope to a tree and the other end to himself so he could safely abseil down the sheer hillside. That is what he did…

**-----------------------------------**

Several cars pulled up at the CTU underground car park. Lucy showed her identification to the guard as several men used bleeping detectors to check for bombs and other detonation devices within the vehicles.

**-----------------------------------**

As Jack neared the bottom of the hillside, he took his torch out of his pocket and switched it on. He shone it on the ground below him. All he could see was browned vegetation, then a dried-up creek bed. He moved the light along to where he thought he saw the girl's body, along the line of the creek; he saw nothing. He moved down the rope to the flat land and untied himself.

"Luisa?" He shouted her name. "Luisa, it's me, Jack!" He heard a rustling next to him. He pulled back the brown grass to find the small body quivering. "Luisa!" He bent down and picked her up. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"Uncle Jack?" She opened her eyes and saw his face. She burst into tears. "I'm scared! I want my mom!"

Jack pulled the girl's head to rest upon his shoulder and hugged her. "I know you're scared. Your mother is near here; and you can talk to your dad on my phone here."

**-----------------------------------**

"So you're working here now?" Alex asked Lucy as they walked up the ramp into the main CTU office.

"I… I don't know what to say, Alex."

He stopped and turned to look at her, grabbing her arm. "Just tell me the truth. Please Lucy. I have been travelling for god-knows how many hours and its…" he paused to look at his watch, "its quarter to three in the morning. I'm tired!"

"I began working here on this mission today. I'm just here until this mission is finished. I have wanted to tell you what I do since I met you; but…"

"It's okay, you're telling me now." He wanted a good explanation, but did not have the energy to listen to one. All he wanted to do was sit down and drink a nice cup of Yorkshire Tea and dunk in a digestive biscuit or two. As Alex and Lucy walked into the main CTU bullpen, his eyes began scanning every single bit of wall space in search of a kettle.

"…But I couldn't." Lucy continued, "if the people I am investigating found out I did actually survive an explosion a few years back, then, the repercussions could get much worse, and you could be in danger too. My brother's daughter has already been a victim of this investigation today."

Tony was walking down the stairs from his office when he saw Lucy and the men arrive. He ordered one of the men to be taken to a Holding room at the back of the office. There were not many rooms available at that hour due to other people being kept for further investigation on a different case. Tony assigned two guards to monitor that room and Alex was to be questioned first in the Situation Room.

**---------------------------------------**

Jack shone his torch up into the air to search for the helicopter. He couldn't see or hear it. He pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket. No signal. This was typical. Jack had not picked up his CTU phone before he left the office; if he had, then that phone would have been able to use it's pinhole frequency to contact the 'copter and CTU. There was only one thing to do. He found the rope and tied it back around his waist and placed Luisa in a piggy-back position so he could carry her up the mountainside.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Author's note: **Like I said in previous chapters: the creators of "24" own the characters, and Enrique, Luisa and Alex are all figments of my own imagination. _

_Please read and review, and correct me on anything that I have (most likely) gotten wrong!!!

* * *

**Desperate for a Brew...** _

Jack reached the top of the hillside and put the girl on the ground as he untied the rope. She saw Enrique sitting in his car.

"Uncle Jack!"

"No. Stay here. Are you scared of that man?" She nodded. "Don't be. He won't hurt you now. You're safe with me, Luisa." Jack pulled the girl towards the car and demanded to use Enrique's phone. He gave it to Jack without hesitation. He dialled the number he had for Michelle. No answer. He dialled Tony's number. He did answer. Jack informed him that he had rescued Luisa, again and that he did not know where Michelle and the 'copter were.

"You have access to a CTU vehicle, I believe?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, the one Enrique took when he left with Luisa. Can you track the location of the chopper?"

"I'll track it via Satellite; but Jack, you need to bring my daughter back here as soon as you can."

"What about Michelle?"

"Forget about her. It is my daughter who is in danger not her. I need the reassurance that she is alive and with me. Michelle can look after herself, she is trained to deal with the situation, better than you or I have been."

"Tony, if this is about her being higher ranked than you…" Jack was cut off.

"Just get back here now, Jack!" Tony yelled into his handset.

**---------------------------------------------**

Lucy sat down in a chair in the Situation Room, Alex took the chair next to her. He took her hand and held it softly, she took it away from him, then she stood up and walked to the glass door, turned around and paused before she spoke.

"Alex, I don't know what to say."

"I'm a little confused. Have you just brought me in here to tell me about your job? Really I don't mind; if you couldn't tell me before, then it was probably for good reason. I know now. If you need to stay here, then I'll go to your hotel room."

"Alex…"

"I'm a little tired."

"Alex…"

"I could sure use a kettle to make my cuppa tea right now." He looked to the coffee making machine sat to one side of the room.

"We have reason to believe that you and the other man we brought in have been working as part of the group that my office in London has been tracing for the last few years."

"Does that boil water as well as make frothy lattes?" He pointed to the coffee machine.

"All I want is for you to tell me what you were doing on that plane."

"I came to see you darling, I have already told you. Now how about that brew now?" Alex was so desperate for his tea that his face almost looked pained.

Tony saw Lucy questioning Alex through the clear glass of the Situation Room, so he walked in. He knew he could do a better job at interrogating this man.

"Hey, it's Alex, right?"

"Yeah, I remember you from the conference." Alex replied, standing up immediately as he quickly wiped the pained desiring look off his face.

"That's right. Next time you decide to move into the criminal circle, then you should maybe change your identity when you are posing as a government employee. You know that we were all fooled about your appearance. Now give us the information that we want and then we might think about making life easier for you, making a deal with you."

"I'm sorry, I'm confused." Lucy interrupted. "You two sound as though you have already met each other! What do you mean my husband was posing as a government employee, Tony?"

"I don't know what information you want. Please, you have to understand." Alex was looking Tony straight in the eye.

"Look Tony, I can handle this here." Lucy was trying to look him in the eye, but he pushed her aside.

"No. This whole operation has gone wrong since you arrived here this evening. This is my office and I will be taking over."

"But Tony…"

"I am in charge here, and my office gets results. Because of you, you have managed to put my daughter's life in danger today, twice."

Alex wriggled in his chair, then put a hand into his trouser pocket and pulled out a crinkled piece of blue paper.

"I think this is what you need." He held it out for Tony to take.

"What is it?" Lucy was curious. She tried to look over Tony's shoulder at the thin paper.

"I see." Tony folded the paper up and put it in his own pocket. I will come back to talk to you, and perhaps release you shortly. He left the room.

"What was that paper?" Lucy asked her husband, her face was close to his, though she could not decide whether to be amorous to gain his trust, or to treat him as another suspect.

**---------------------------------------------**

Tony plugged a scrambler device into his laptop which gave him a connection to his mobile phone which he had concealed in his car, and clicked onto the internet icon. This way he would be able to access a secure site without being detected by the CTU system and any potential moles. He read the paper again as he waited for a connection with the secure server. On it was written:

_I am following the authority of the American Government; whilst working under the pseudo-disguise, I have been ordered to follow the progress of my 'wife's' investigation. Access code to Server Scout DC: 3645263._

**---------------------------------------------**

Jack heard a loud crash as he sat in the SUV, he decided to get out. Looking into the moonlit sky he saw smoke and some fire coming from about half a mile away. He decided to drive that way to investigate rather than head the opposite direction to CTU as per Tony's orders.

Tony had verified the information on Alex's blue paper, and before returning to him and his sister with a verdict, he switched his screen to the Satellite coverage of Jack's SUV. He saw an image of the car driving along a road; Tony had to zoom out for better vision. As he did this, he could see instantly that the car was yet again being driven in the opposite direction to CTU.

A voice crackled through Jack's earpiece. He knew it was Tony, and why he would be contacting him, so Jack decided to pull the earpiece out and let it hang on his chest.

On the screen, Tony saw the vehicle swerve, and two red dots ahead of it.

Jack got out the car. It was Michelle and the helicopter pilot. They were standing in the road.

"Your leather jacket is torn, Michelle." Jack picked up her arm and held her hand.

"We had to quickly jump out of the 'copter. Someone shot at one of the propellers, so here we are." She welcomed the warmth of Jack's hand on hers. "Have you got Luisa?"

Jack led her to the car where she got in the back beside her daughter. The pilot made his own way to the car. Jack slipped the earpiece back into his ear.

"Tony? I have found Michelle and the pilot. They are safe too, we are on our way back to CTU now."

"Damn it Jack, I told you to come back here straight away, Michelle might be on to something, she can take care of herself!" Tony threw down the radio. Though Tony was secretly happy that Jack had found Michelle as well as his daughter, he was physically fuming that Jack had not just kept his daughter safe by bringing her back as soon as he had dictated.

"What did Tony say?" Michelle asked Jack. Jack was still rubbing his ear after hearing the loud bang through his earpiece. Michelle repeated her question.

"Umm… I… well, he said that…" Jack was still contemplating what to say to her.

"Jack!" Her voice boomed from the back of the car. "Tell me what he said, was it about me?"

"Well, in a way. Michelle, you have to understand that he is concentrating on two missions at the same time. He assumed that you were taking care of something else, and perhaps you had a lead on another…" Jack's voice trailed off. Michelle did not look happy at all.

**-------------------------------------------**

Tony rolled up his sleeves; he meant business. By looking at the expression on his face as he entered the room where his sister and Alex were sitting, they could tell he had already had enough to deal with and he did not need the shenanigans that these two people had presented.

"Right Lucy, I need you to go and wait in another room." He courteously held the door open for her to leave.

"I'm not leaving! I need to know what is going on." She spoke, followed by Tony over-exaggerating a roll of his eyes. "I am staying here!" Lucy yelled.

"Fine. If you won't leave on your own; Alex will you follow me, please?" His voice was a quiet and polite tone again. Alex stood up and followed Tony out of the room.

----------------------------------------

"Mummy."

Michelle looked at her daughter, "what is it, honey?"

"Where are we going now? I'm tired."

"We're going back to see Daddy. Don't worry, you curl up and sleep!" Michelle spoke to her in a soothing voice and the little girl curled up and rested her head on her mother's lap.

---------------------------------------

Enrique was turning around in his seat and began muttering as he looked at the little girl curled up on Michelle.

"Turn around, you!" Michelle's voice boomed. "Jack, is this man under arrest yet?"

"Yes;" Jack spoke firmly before grabbing Enrique's arm and twisting him so his body was facing the front, "if you say anything, it **will** go against you."

Enrique grumbled. Jack looked in his rear view mirror at Michelle and rolled his eyes. Michelle let out a much over-needed sigh.

------------------------------------

"Now we both know that you are really working for the US Government," Tony paused while he tried to put what he was thinking into the most appropriate words. "Your authority code happened to be the correct code."

Alex nodded his head, as he had expected, the security code he had handed to this CTU agent was correct, the agent just needed to verify to Alex if he knew what kind of operation he was amidst.

Tony pulled out a chair from behind a desk and motioned for Alex to sit opposite him. Tony leaned back in his chair and thought for a moment. His first thoughts began with Alex, then he wondered to Michelle and Luisa, hoping that Michelle would forgive him for some of his decisions tonight. Finally his mind tried to remember the last time he had worked such an eventful nightshift: he could not.

Alex could feel a hole burning in the centre of his eyebrows as Tony's contemplative stare bore straight through his head.

"I need to make sure that Lucy does not discover my identity." Alex pleaded.

Tony blinked as he moved forward in his chair and out of his rich thoughts.

"It is vital that this subject remains a secret with you, Agent Almeida!"

"As I gather," Tony began, "you are working for the American Government, but you are also working for the British Government, am I correct?"

Alex nodded affirmatively.

"So you have an American nationality?"

"Yes, originally I was…" Tony cut him off before he tried to explain.

"Though, you have a British accent!" Tony's voice was forceful.

"I do. I was about to explain…"

"And my sister, she believed you when you told her your alias as a British businessman?"

"She could have looked into that in detail if she had wanted to, but… we had a duty to do."

"Do you love her? Or is this just a marriage of convenience?"

"I do. Believe me, I do love her. Look, Agent Almeida, I really am tired, is there any chance that I can make myself a cup of tea? I noticed that you have a coffee machine in the last room we were in, but have you a kettle or something for me to boil some water?"

"Umm… Iced Tea is available in the break room. You can go and wait in there, we have not given you clearance to leave the premises. That machine only makes coffee!"

* * *

_**Author's note:** Thank you for reading, please review..._


	7. Chapter 7

_**Author's note: **__Like I said in previous chapters: the creators of "24" own the characters, and Luisa and Alex are all figments of my own imagination. _

_I apologise for not having updated this story in months, but uni has been really tough this past year, and I have had to focus on that, but I hope to upload the next few chapters in the next few weeks. _

* * *

_**Moving Closer…**_

Tony was standing in his office looking out of the window and raking his fingers through his hair. What was his next move? He had no idea. His mind played on the seven numbers that made up the security code that Alex had given him. _3645263_.

Michelle looked down at her daughter, Luisa, who was fast asleep in her arms as she walked into the bullpen at CTU. A smile passed over her lips as she thought how lucky she was to have her rescued for a second time in one night.

As Tony was pondering over the numbers in his mind, his eyes locked onto a sight that he was worried he would never see again. It was Michelle and his little girl. He was so glad that Jack did not actually follow his orders not to rescue Michelle, and he knew that the only thing he had to do now was to apologise to her. With a fear that he would show a weaker side in front of Chloe and the other employees, he knew that he had to get her up to his office, and the sooner the better.

Michelle looked up at her husband's office, she saw him beckoning her. She quickly turned and sat down, and began making a lame attempt at conversation with Chloe. This made Tony's guilty stomach twist. He turned away with another plan.

Somewhere inside the CTU bullpen, a familiar sound of an internal call rang on a phone. A blonde analyst, who has been distracted from her work for long enough decided to answer it to avoid any more pointless discussion.

"O' Brian?"

"Chloe, can you send Michelle up to my office, please?"

"I think that she just wants to have a shower and clean herself up first." The voice was sharp.

"Just send her up; tell her it's an order from Division!" Tony watched through the glass as Chloe turned to Michelle. He saw Michelle sigh, then she got up from her seat and walked towards the stairs.

Before Michelle pushed open the door, she took a deep breath. She put the girl in Tony's chair and tickled her hair. Luisa stirred, but didn't wake. She was much too tired for that. Michelle joined Tony at the window.

"Is this really an order from Division?" Tony heard the note of exhaustion in her voice.

"I need to apologise." He turned around to see that she was hovering her hands over his waist. He took hold of her hands and held them tightly. "Michelle, I'm really s…"

"You have nothing to apologise for, sweetheart. You did what you had to for this little one." Tony planted a kiss on her lips.

"She couldn't have looked out for herself out there, but I'm big enough to get back on my own. Though, I'm glad Jack brought me back." She smiled sweetly at him. "I love you." She whispered.

"Thank you!" He said.

That wasn't the response she was expecting though.

"What are we going to do now?" Michelle asked.

"I have a code that has been bugging me."

"What is it?"

"A security code for the DC servers to authenticate Alex as an agent. It checks out, but there must be more to it."

"Does Lucy know what it is?"

"My sister has no idea at all about Alex, and I'd prefer to keep her in the dark about this."

"Tell me what it is, and I'll send it over to Jack." Michelle reached into her pocket for her Blackberry, but pulled out her mobile phone instead. Tapping away until she opened a new text message screen she waited to enter the numbers.

As Tony read the numbers she pressed them into the phone. She had forgotten to switch it from predictive text mode to numbers, and she looked at the word that she had entered onto her phone.

_**Author's note:**__ I think that before you proceed with reading my story, you should try out the code for yourself on your own mobile phone._

"Jack should put my sister in an interrogation room." Tony's words were almost silent, and he turned a ghostly white. "Don't send Jack in with her, though. He'll kill her."

Michelle lay a hand on his shoulder. She knew that Tony hadn't seen Lucy since she left America for England all those years ago, and it was clear that she had changed. And if Michelle was honest, she could see a much tougher exterior to Lucy than she could to Tony.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Author's note: **__As before: the creators of "24" own the characters, and Luisa and Alex are all figments of my own imagination. _

_Please read and review, and correct me on anything that I have (most likely) gotten wrong!!! _

* * *

_**Tougher…**_

Tony opened the door to the interrogation room that Jack had taken Lucy to. Michelle and Jack stood outside the door watching the monitor. Tony was standing underneath the camera and Lucy was sitting on the wooden chair at the other side of a table, looking at him with a quizzical expression. Tony fiddled with a control on the side of the room, and all of a sudden the observers could no longer hear the voices inside the room.

"What is this all about, Tony?" Lucy asked.

"You tell me!" His voice was sharp and his arms were folded across his body.

"I'm stuck inside this room, I need to get on with unfolding this case. It needs to be solved."

"I know it needs to be solved. But, as I have already said before, I'm in charge of this office. You have more information than you are letting on. I demand that you tell me everything you know." He paused, then thumped the table in front of her. "If you don't talk to me, your brother, then I'll send my colleague in. You won't want to be alone with him. I've seen the terrible things he has done to other people in the past, and I don't want to see you go through the same!"

Outside, Jack and Michelle were fiddling with the sound controls.

"I have no idea what he is saying."

"As long as we can see them, it's alright." Michelle whispered.

"Have you a security number I can check?" Tony demanded.

"You know who I am, you know who I work for." Lucy countered.

"Well, give me a number so I can prove what you'll tell me will be the truth!"

"Okay, it's …" Lucy reeled off a number from the top of her head.

"That's only five digits. And it doesn't begin with the UK prefix." Tony once again moved to the monitoring controls.

The monitor sparked before turning black in front of Michelle and Jack. They looked at each other. There was no point in either of them speaking as they were both thinking the same thing. Lucy was in trouble, and Tony had gotten angry with her.

Ten minutes later, Tony opened the door and walked out towards Jack. He raked his fingers through his hair and puffed a sigh of exhaustion.

"Why did you switch the monitor's off?" Jack questioned.

"Oh, really? No. I didn't touch them. Where is Michelle?"

"First tell me what you did in there. What happened?"

Tony looked long and hard at Jack before he spoke. "Let me find Michelle, get myself a drink, then I'll talk to you both."

Tony found his wife and daughter in the break room. Jack followed and sat down.

"Come on Tony, you need to talk to us." Jack's voice was strong.

Tony's face turned red, and he stared at his mobile phone keypad. Taking a sip from his glass, suddenly he jolted his head upwards.

"I've got it." He said with confidence. "I know what all of this is about."

Michelle raised an eyebrow at Jack.

"Care to let us in on your ideas?" Michelle stroked his hand.

"Look at the numbers on the phone. Type in the code Alex gave me, if you look at the letters, it spells England."

"I know this already." Michelle was tired and wanted to know what this had to do with the matter at hand.

"Well, all this _trouble_ started because she couldn't contain the investigation." Tony couldn't even bring himself to say Lucy's name. After ten minutes interrogating her, he could tell that he was no longer stronger than her. She proved herself to be as tough as Jack Bauer, even. How could he admit that? Tony had found out nothing that he didn't already know about the case from her, and in his book, this was disappointing. "Alex claims he is American. Lucy doesn't know he works for both the British and American governments. She has followed an investigation here. This investigation began as soon as we started our shift. There is more to this than meets the eye!"

"Can you find out anymore information from Division, Michelle?" Jack asked her. "I mean, you were sent straight here at the start of the evening, they knew Lucy would be arriving, but did they know how serious it has turned out?"

"I'll go and phone them." Michelle slipped her little girl onto the chair and moved away.

Minutes later, Michelle hung up the call and told Jack and Tony that she suspects that there is something very wrong by the sound of Bill Buchannan's voice. She claimed that he did not sound very concerned with the events that had happened this evening.

"He'd be different if it involved him." Jack grumbled. "He's probably practising some yoga in his office!"

"Yeah, that'd be right," agreed Tony.

All of a sudden Luisa started blinking as she sat up.

"I think the sleeping drugs have worn off your daughter, Tony." Jack spoke in a hushed voice.

"Hello, sweetie." Tony's voice was animated as he cuddled her. Luisa got down from the chair she was in and ran towards Alex who was still in the break room.

He was holding a wad of papers whilst leaning on his hand and dosing all at the same time. Luisa pulled the papers and they all floated to the floor. Luisa spied a map and picked that particular sheet up.

"England!" She yelled across the break room.

This woke Alex up and he glanced around him to remember exactly where he was, then he saw his operation briefing littering the floor.

"England, Daddy. Mummy, look it's a picture of England!" Luisa ran to Michelle who smiled at the girl.

"Now, honey, how do you know this is England?"

"They showed us it at school last week." Luisa grinned proudly after sharing her knowledge.

"You are so clever!" Michelle patted her on the head, then took the sheet out of Luisa's sticky palm and read the words.

"You really shouldn't read that!" Alex's voice was tired and husky. "That is secret governmental information!"

This did not stop Michelle from reading it. Once she had finished she took her daughter by the hand and led her into the bullpen. Jack and Tony followed.

Michelle stood at the top of the stairs and called for the whole of CTU staff to gather round and listen.

"I have an announcement to make." Michelle started.

There was some murmuring from the crowd.

"My daughter has found a map, and she would like to tell everyone what the map is of." Michelle whispered to her daughter to say aloud where the map was.

"England!" She screamed with glee.

Tony and Jack joined Michelle on the stairs and watched as a number of people began to smile. Enrique and Lucy came out from their interrogation rooms. Bill Buchannan opened a door at the back on the room and began clapping his hands.


End file.
